


RWBY: The Carnivore AU

by BioCraftHero



Category: RWBY
Genre: A lot of heavy shit, Canonical Brain Damage, Death, Monsters, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 06:43:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14665485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BioCraftHero/pseuds/BioCraftHero
Summary: It's been months since the Fall of Beacon, and Remnant is still recovering. With Ruby on her way to Haven, Weiss in Atlas, and Blake nowhere to be found, Yang is left at her home to recover from her injuries. But when she begins to develop reoccurring nightmares that become too vivid, she eventually leaves to find answers. In doing so, she encounters someone who claims that he knows people that can help her. In due time, she will eventually cause them to uproot secrets, reveal grim discoveries, and demonstrate that all warriors are vulnerable to their inner demons.





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mysteries abound in the beginning of any story, and this is no exception.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moving this from DA. Original post here: https://biocrafthero.deviantart.com/art/Carnivore-AU-Prologue-637954339
> 
> Prologue to the Carnivore AU. Enjoy.

She was at her limit.

Nothing her team said could help the fact that she was framed.

And this meant nothing can suppress her rage.

But that’s not what she wants.

At some point, they noticed that something was wrong. They tried their best to help in any way that they could, but the dragon would not reply. It was as if they were trying to calm a raging hurricane; they knew it wasn’t going to work. But they had to try something. Anything.

But a demon had awoken. A demon with unimaginable power. 

And a certain rage-filled teen was the perfect host.

In a sudden burst of movement, she quickly pivoted on her heel and raised her fist.

The first object that Yang’s fist made contact with was the left side of Weiss’ face. It was as if her aura had never even existed.

The sound of shattering bone emanated off the walls of the somewhat small dorm room. Blake had immediately motioned for Ruby to run, but she had already gotten a head start. Blake drew her weapon in order to prepare for the fight of her life, but the second she drew Gambol Shroud from its sheath, Yang had backhanded it out from her grasp. Grabbing her neck, Yang threw her partner to the floor without a second thought. Placing her foot on the other’s head, Yang crushed her partner’s skull with minimal effort. Wherever this sudden power boost came from, it could not mean well.

Turning towards her sister, Yang continued to advance. Luckily, Ruby was already at the door. The bad news was that it was jammed.

Ruby tried to run in any other direction, but Yang had caught her sister by her hood. Pulling her towards her, she let go and grabbed onto her neck instead, and slammed her against the door. She raised her fist, preparing for the final blow.

Ruby had then shouted something, but to Yang, it was almost unheard; but there was one notable phrase that was spoken:

“Please! Stop!”

And she did. 

Her fist slightly lowered and her eyes returned to their original, lilac color. She began to hesitate. She was only able to say those two words: 

“I can’t.”

She then snapped back to her new rage-filled persona, her eyes glowing red once more. Then she sent her fist flying towards Ruby’s face. 

Her skull provided no resistance to the punch. The punch was so powerful, in fact, that it made a hole in the door. 

Yang opened the now broken door with ease, which was surprising, since it was jammed earlier. She stepped out into the hall, and only managed to take a few steps before she felt all that negative energy disappear. Then she collapsed onto her knees, tears spilling from her eyes. The entire school was eerily quiet, as if no one was there to hear her screams. 

But then she felt a presence behind her. As she turned, a swift claw had cut open a large gash in her neck, and she collapsed to the floor. 

Gasping for breath, she tried to seek out the face of her attacker, but all she caught was a split-second glimpse of a shadow with a pair of scathing eyes attached to it. Then it spoke.

“Oh Yang Xiao Long. Since when were you the one in control?”

Then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first wrote this, I genuinely was apprehensive to complete this. Don't worry, though! I've gotten over it.
> 
> The chapters also get longer so there's that, too.


	2. A Bit of Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang goes searching for answers, and stumbles across someone that offers a one-way ticket to who-knows-what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original can be found here: https://biocrafthero.deviantart.com/art/Carnivore-AU-A-Bit-Of-Help-667789550
> 
> Chapter 1 to the Carnivore AU. Enjoy.

Answers. 

She needed to find them.

But, like many times before, Yang has none. Hell, she may have more questions than answers than she’s been provided with. It didn’t matter how many people she asked, whether they be some sort of believer in a deity or not.

She was just about to lose all hope on this fruitless search when she seemingly heard somebody say, “Night terrors, huh?”

The voice seemed to come from nowhere yet everywhere at once. There was a voice at the back of Yang’s mind that told her to run, but she was still drawn to it for some reason. Eventually, after a moment of thought, curiosity got the better of her and she asked in the direction the voice came from based on a rough guess, “Hello?” She knew it wasn’t that strong of a start, but she also knew that with everything that had been happening recently, she wanted to be cautious. 

“You know that if you just turned around, then you’d actually be able to talk to me face-to-face.”

Despite how much this person was acting like both a smartass and a creep, she turned around. 

Turns out the person was a lot more different than she had anticipated. He had a somewhat short stature compared to her own, but that could be explained by the fact that he looked to be no older than the age of 13. He was also wearing a gray-colored hoodie with a symbol sewn into it, a pair of dark-colored jeans (which had shoes to match), and a mask that obscured almost any way to see his face. The only thing was that there were no lenses to hide his almost ice-like eyes. Slung over his shoulder and around his body was some sort of bladed weapon, but it was hidden within a sheath. His hands rested in the pockets of his hoodie, and he also seemed to have a slight slouch to his posture. 

The longer the two stared at each other, the more his eyes seemed to bore into her very thoughts. She began to think over the last minute again and again, and she began to have slight suspicions about this kid. 

'It was almost like he could…'

“Read your mind?” he said, seemingly continuing her thoughts. Additionally, he seemed to take note of her confusion, and followed it up with, “Telepathy. You seemed curious, anyways.” 

Well, that explained a lot. Especially the eyes. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll try not to do it again. Emphasis on try.”

At least he’ll try not to use his telepathy (if he actually has it, that is). If she was being perfectly honest, it was getting a bit annoying. Just trying to take this a step at a time, Yang decided to ask the simple question, “Who are you?”

Yes, admittedly, it was kind of a dumb question, but she was trying her best not to ask anything very complicated for now. 

He let out what sounded like a slight snicker, and replied, “I’m Ecru Tate, and I know people that can help you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know that you’ve been experiencing these nightmares for months, and the only reason you’re out here in the outskirts of Vale is to find answers to your questions. By now, you’ve accepted the fact that almost nobody here can help. So face it; I’m your best shot to getting an answer.”

That was simply followed by silence. Ecru had already seemed to pick up on this and followed it up with, “But, you know, you can just ignore me and let this entity overtake your consciousness. It’s entirely up to you.”

He just let some information slip. Whether it was intentional or not was completely debatable, but Yang had to grab hold of any lead there was. She noticed that Ecru had begun to walk away, and she called out, “Wait!”

He stopped and turned his head slightly towards her. 

“How do I contact you?” Yang asked.

Ecru once again let out a ghost of a laugh and turned around to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I skipped "Speak." Fuck that chapter. Read it if your want here: https://biocrafthero.deviantart.com/art/Carnivore-AU-Speak-644439114


	3. The Perfect Setup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ecru and some people he knows decide to split up. He and whoever he's with head off somewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original post: https://biocrafthero.deviantart.com/art/Carnivore-AU-The-Perfect-Setup-672026931
> 
> Chapter 3 to the Carnivore AU. Enjoy.

So, is it really an opportune time to leave for Mistral?”

“Ohhh… Okay, that makes sense now.”

“You’re sure about this?”

“Okay, I’ll make sure that I can get there.”

Flax ended the call, letting out a small breath he didn’t even know he was holding. Well, logic would suggest that if the metaphorical question can’t be solved, move onto the next one for now. He was just a bit worried about the whole situation, though…

“Flax!” called out Ecru.

Flax turned, quickly pocketing his Scroll. “Yeah?” he replied.

“We have to meet up for a group discussion on what we’ll be currently doing. You comin’?”

“Oh yeah, totally!” Flax responded. He hurried after his brother as they left the small clearing to meet up with the others.

***

Other than himself and Ecru, there were only the same other two people in the group: Davy and Ashen. Meeting up like this was a usual thing, which mainly resulted in the plan staying on course. For the past few months, they’ve had some sort of mission to do in Vale, so everyone was looking forward to some sort of scenery change. Although, this meeting seemed different, despite how subtle it may be.

Davy was the first to break the silence, which took a bit more time than usual.

“So, does anyone have any updates about their current situation?”

Yes, the question may have been a bad one, but he was trying his best.

Flax was the first to answer. 

“Well, it turns out that I have to make my way to Mistral, so I guess that’s something new.”

“That’s good. Ashen and I have a bit more to finish up here, so we’ll meet you there. Although, it does depend entirely on the time you get there.”

“Good point, but it seems a bit more ideal that I head out as soon as I can. It seemed sorta urgent.”

“You mean important?” corrected Ecru.

“Yeah, that,” replied Flax, in his usual playful tone.

“So, as I was saying,” he continued, “what’s the plan?”

“I was thinking that maybe you and Ecru could head to Mistral together, just to make it more convenient in the long run,” said Davy.

“Now that you mention it, it sounds like a fairly good idea! Ecru, just to make sure, are you alright with this?” asked Flax.

Ecru nodded his head in response, followed by a moment of silence.

“Okay, then. It’s settled; you two will head to Mistral while we finish up our job here. After that, we’ll meet up with you there,” concluded Davy.

Shortly after a bit more talking, the two pairs parted ways to continue down their own separate paths. Well, until they meet up, that is.

***

Ecru walked with his brother (who was slightly more ahead of him) in silence. Flax had seemed to be lost in his train of thought, and he was following every second of it. His brother’s thoughts echoed in his mind as he processed them. He could see questions, statements, and some other random thoughts. Although, the one he had been looking for was why he had a sudden change of plans, and he felt like he was getting close. 

Eventually, after a bit of backtracking, he found the exact thing he was looking for. Simple commands from an unidentifiable person about having to lead Grimm to Mistral, and, if possible, take down some villages along the way. He left the name of the mysterious person alone, mostly because he’d use up quite a bit of energy in doing so. He did continue to dig a bit deeper, though, to see if there was anything else he should know.

His concentration was eventually interrupted by Flax. Ecru quickly reverted his thoughts back to reality in order to listen to his brother. 

“You haven’t been talking that much lately. Is something wrong?” Flax had asked. It was easy to predict that question, even without telepathy; his brother tended to be very caring to anyone close to him. 

“Oh, nothing much,” Ecru casually answered.

“Well that’s good. You’ve just been acting kinda strange, that’s all. So, what’s up?”

“The sky is up.”

Flax let out a bit of a snicker due to the extremely bad joke.

“I should’ve seen that one coming at this point.”

“You gotta admit, it was pretty punny.”

At this point, Flax was letting out a full laugh. 

“You do have a point,” he said though his laughter, “your jokes are pretty good.”

Ecru couldn’t help but smile, despite it being hidden by his mask. It was nice to see his brother in such a good mood, especially after the past events. His smile quickly faded as he remembered the wish he’d held onto for so long. If only he could learn to let it go, but he just couldn’t. It was to important to him. If only…

He shook his head to clear his mind of those reoccurring thoughts. It was best not to dwell on that topic for too long. Taking in a breath, Ecru couldn’t help but be reminded of when it was just him and Flax guarding each other's’ backs. As much as he wished for his past to return, he knew that it wasn’t going to happen again. Some of the things he never wanted to experience again, either. 

Flax seemed to notice that something was definitely wrong, so he threw his arm around his brother and said, “Don’t worry, dude. Everything’s gonna be fine. Trust me.”

Ecru couldn’t help but doubt that statement, since he could easily tell that even the speaker of those sentences doubted it as well. And, as we all know, if you say something along the lines of that, it’s not gonna go well for anyone involved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is supposed to be funny, I'm just not good at jokes.
> 
> I may have based Flax off of myself when I first made him but Ecru is my Favorite out of TTAM.


	4. Great Decision Making

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ecru and Flax get themselves into a mess, and have a small talk to try and calm both of their nerves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original: https://biocrafthero.deviantart.com/art/Carnivore-AU-Great-Decision-Making-672038551
> 
> Chapter 4 to the Carnivore AU. Enjoy.

Aura was quite low, energy was nearly drained, and they were being chased.

For Flax, this day was going great.

Although, for Ecru, this day was a mess.

Bullets whizzed past them as they made their escape through the forest from the sentry outpost. Apparently Flax thought it’d be a good idea to quickly attack the outpost with just a small group of Beowolves and an Ursa. Turns out Flax isn’t that good at decision making and almost got himself and Ecru killed. They were forced to flee from the attack, and it seemed that they had the upper hand due to their experience with having to run away from things.

Additionally, Flax thought it was a good idea to talk while trying to run. He’s just full of great ideas today.

“Hey Ecru?” he asked.

“What is it?” Ecru shouted back.

“Do you think we’ve lost them yet?”

“Are you really asking me this question?”

“Don’t worry, I’m just joking around.”

Wow. What a great thing to be doing when they’re probably about to die. Amazing.

“Just stay focused at this point. We’re bound to lose them, but they got quite a bit of range on us. At some point we’ll be fi-”

Ecru was cut off mid-sentence as a bullet shot through his leg. He let out a shout as he fell to the ground, unable to get back up.

“Ecru, holy fuck!” 

Flax turned and ran back to help, but Ecru began to motion for him to run. He still didn’t listen and began to help his brother back up. Once he was on his feet again, Flax was back into a full sprint, carrying a very shocked Ecru with him.

***

After a bit more running, it seemed that their attackers had finally given up trying to get to them. Sunset was steadily approaching, and both of the brothers had decided to rest for the night. At this point, Ecru’s leg was bleeding quite badly and deserved some kind of medical attention. And, since Ecru want’s to make sure he’s prepared, had medical supplies on him. Since Flax isn’t much of a doctor, this became the tricky part: making sure he was actually dressing a wound properly. Ecru had to help him in some places, but, other than that, the end result was decent enough to help in some way. 

The past events of the day had made Ecru quite tired, but he still insisted that he stay awake to keep watch. And, as much as Flax had tried to convince him he needed rest, he knew his brother too well to give up that easily. He let his brother keep watch for as long as he needed to, but had to tell him if something happened or to switch if he became to drowsy to stay awake. Ecru agreed to these terms, just glad to be able to be responsible brother at the moment. 

So far, Flax thought that everything was going to be alright, just like he said a couple weeks prior. He was just worried for his brother and how well he was doing lately. His mannerisms seemed a bit odd and he was quiet during conversations. It may just be an age thing or something, but he didn’t know right now. At this moment in time, he was just happy that they were fine.

***

Ecru was leaning against a tree as he looked into the small fire they had set up. The wood was seemingly glowing from the inside out and smoke rose into the air. It was such a perfect metaphor on how something beautiful could be deadly, but that was besides the point. Flax sat near him, simply spacing out about whatever he thinks about on a day-to-day basis. Ecru decided to break the silence.

“Flax,” he asked, just to get his attention.

“Yeah?” his brother replied.

“Do you know why I wanted you to run when we were being shot at?”

“No, why?”

“Well, I just wanted to make sure that you were safe. I just, you know, put you before me.”

“Listen,” Flax started, “you’d probably be off even worse if I had listened to you. I was just looking out for you.”

The thought that they had very different yet similar thoughts was comforting, to say the least. 

“Okay,” Ecru said, “I was just wondering.”

He leaned his head back to look at the night sky, which he finally got a good look at ever since they’ve left the busier areas of the kingdoms. The night was relaxing as a cool breeze blew over them. Everything was going to be fine. Probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title was also supposed to be funny.  
> I made 3 and 4 in the same day, so that says a lot about that.
> 
> The last two sentences are my favorite parts of this, tbh.


	5. Stress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ecru hears something out of the ordinary that night, and Flax goes to investigate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original: https://biocrafthero.deviantart.com/art/Carnivore-AU-Stress-672699051
> 
> Chapter 5 to the Carnivore AU. Enjoy.
> 
> I don't need to say that anymore.

The chill of the night breeze was somewhat strong that night. Although, it was relaxing in some way. The sky was clear as the stars radiated their light. The fire that was set up almost acted as a beacon in the ever growing darkness of the night, with the shattered moon hanging up above them. 

At this point, Flax had already fallen asleep. Ecru and remained awake for the last few hours, yet fatigue was slowly taking it’s toll on him. As his eyelids grew heavy, he began to hear some sort of noise. At first, he just assumed that it was simply a passing animal or something along those lines. Pretty soon after, it was seemingly followed by a voice, which also had the sounds of footsteps mixed with it. 

Ecru almost immediately went to go wake up Flax. As his brother started to regain consciousness, he told him about what he had heard. Flax, trying to be the protective one in the situation, told Ecru that he’d go and check it out. Mostly just to see of the source of the sounds was a true threat.

***

He’d never been so jumpy in his entire life. Flax was getting close to his last nerve at this point, just trying to protect Ecru from whatever the hell was after them. He had ventured quite far from their little camp site, and he was getting quite nervous. For as strong willed as he was, he didn’t really enjoy the comfort of being in a mysterious place during night. 

Then he heard it. 

It was just some footsteps at first, followed by what seemed to be a voice; just as Ecru had said. He ended up shooting a couple shots in its general direction, only managing to scare off some nocturnal animals. Flax let out the breath he was holding, relieved at the fact it wasn’t an actual person.

Next thing he knows, there’s the snapping of a branch just behind him. Out of panic, Flax relied on his twitch reactions. Quickly turning, he fired a shot in the direction the noise came from. He didn’t need to aim; he was a good shot, nonetheless. His night vision benefited him in the long run, mostly because he did end up shooting someone. The person was dead before they even hit the ground with a dull thud.

Cautiously making his way over, he surveyed the area around him. Luckily, there was no one else in the surrounding area. Once he arrived, Flax examined the body. It was a grown man which he recognized. He immediately denied the thought, telling himself that it was just a coincidence. A simple look alike at first glance. But he knew this person all too well.

The dead man had a scorpion tail with the stinger cut off, presumably from some kind of fight. The pincer-like weapons on this gauntlets were unmistakeable. 

Flax knew this man.

He was Tyrian Callows.

He felt as if a massive weight had been dropped upon him. There was a bullet hole in this man’s head, and he was to blame. Tyrian was an ally, friend, and mentor. He fucking trusted Tyrian! 

Now look at him. He was as dead as a bug under a boot. 

His wolf ears began to droop. Flax wanted to run, but he couldn’t bring himself to somehow. All he needed to do was focus on the current issue: trying to care for his injured brother. After taking a breath, he gathered what supplies he could off of the body and headed back to Ecru.

***

Flax walked back into his brother's field of view, a solemn expression on his face.

“I heard gunshots,” Ecru said, “what happened?”

“Nothing happened,” Flax replied. “I just… thought I heard something.”

“Well, something obviously happened while you were out there,” Ecru remarked.

“I told you: nothing happened.”

“Your behaviors say otherwise.”

Flax knew that he wasn’t convincing him. Taking in a breath as his tail began to move closer to himself, he spoke the truth.

“I ended up killing someone.” He knew it was a blunt thing to say, but that’s all he could say, at the moment.

“Last time I was with you in a fight, you didn’t seem to have a problem doing just that,” Ecru pointed out. “If you’re acting this way, it was obviously somebody you care about.”

This caused Flax to start worrying about the fact that Ecru may know the truth already. What if he was well enough to use his telepathy again?

“It’s fine, though.” he said. “I don’t need to know. Just get some rest, okay?”

Admittedly, that went a lot better than Flax suspected. He felt his body relax as he didn’t feel as stressed on telling his brother. Everyone else may catch on quicker, though. It’ll be quite obvious when it turns out that their little ball of crazy was missing from the group. What would happen to him then? What would they do just to find out what happened to Tyrian? What if they harm his brother?

Flax shook his head as he leaned back into a comfortable resting position. He’d never felt as stressed until now, mostly caused by the worry hanging over his head. He felt close to some kind of breaking point, and he prayed that he wouldn’t surpass his limit. Yet, somehow, it felt inescapable. That, no matter what he did, there was no avoiding it. For now, he just has to keep his head held high as he makes his way to Mistral. He’ll at least be able to meet up with some friends while he’s there. That’ll be able to help in some way, won’t it?

Well, only time could tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fucking love what I'm building up to for the next chapter.


	6. Bond by Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ecru and Flax get into a fight against the White Fang, and a grave mistake is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original: https://biocrafthero.deviantart.com/art/Carnivore-AU-Bond-By-Blood-674384490
> 
> Get ready my dudes for some fucking feels.

As much as he tried to, Flax couldn’t sleep that well last night. Stress had gotten the better of him, and it was beginning to grow quite obvious. As always, Ecru had taken note of that. 

After that well deserved “rest” from the night before, Ecru’s leg was doing much better, so they set off again. He had already caught on to the fact that that his brother wasn’t in the right state of mind at the moment, so he made sure Flax didn’t push himself too much. 

Right now, they were simply just walking down the path. It was an early spring afternoon; a very pleasant and peaceful one, to say the least. Since Ecru was feeling much better than before and Flax seemed to be spacing out about whatever he thinks about, he decided to use his telepathy to see what was bugging him. It took a bit of time, but he eventually found the source of the problem: Flax had killed someone close to him, just as Ecru had suspected. Next thing he knew is that, on top of that, Flax didn’t sleep well. That ended up explaining a lot, as well. 

After that, Ecru severed the connection between their thoughts. He’d rather not exert the extra energy right now. 

***

Not too long later and Flax had already thought of the perfect idea to attack an outpost controlled by the White Fang splinter group. As unnecessary as this seemed to be, Ecru had no objections to it. Mostly because, according to his brother, it was a part of his current mission. And, if Ecru was being perfectly honest, the argument was kind of hard to counter. 

Although, he did have some level of strategy this time. Instead of taking on the outpost with a small group of Grimm like last time, he decided to send in a small group, while a larger group (including themselves) would come from another side. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was definitely worth a shot. 

***

“Being stationed here sucks,” said a White Fang grunt.

“Yeah. For once, they found a place more boing than Vale,” another replied.

“Let’s just finish our job here,” someone else said.

For the last few hours, the group of White Fang grunts were moving some supplies to their location. It was a simple process, mostly consisting of moving one box to a different location. Every once in awhile, someone would drop something or fall over. In a nutshell, it was an extremely boring job.The grunts were beginning to question why they were here in the first place. It was a completely bland day for them.

Well, that was until some Grimm decided to show up. 

It was actually a fairly normal-sized pack of Beowolves, nothing much. But, since they were caught off guard, the Grimm were able to deal some damage before the White Fang were able to get weapons ready. Raising their guns and blades, they engaged in combat with the Beowolves. 

Bullets soared through the air and swords were swinging as more Grimm were downed. They fell to the ground as their bodies began to seemingly evaporate. 

After a while, it seemed as if the Grimm were finally beginning to grow into smaller numbers. But, it was at that moment, the White Fang grunts that were fighting were attacked from behind. This time, instead of just normal Beowolves, there was a few alphas and some Ursi. The Grimm came in large numbers at this point, causing the Faunus to become worried for their own safety. They began to slay even more Grimm than before, but the numbers eventually caused overwhelming odds to rise against them. Being forced to call for backup, they quickly fled the area they were in. 

As they ran, the creatures didn’t seem to be chasing them at that moment in time, but they all still ran like hell.

Once they made it to a relatively safe place, they all had to take a breather. Suddenly, after about a minute or so, one of the few who had made it was shot dead. Before the White Fang members could react, another was killed due to an odd looking combat knife being thrown at his chest. Dodging the bullets that were whizzing by, Flax ran over and yanked his weapon out of the faunus’ corpse. With the swiftness of a greyhound, he has slaughtered every last one of them. He stood there for a second, taking in deep breaths as blood dripped from the metal blade. 

***

As Ecru made his way to Flax, he noticed that there was a large group of White Fang members headed towards the location. Breaking into a sprint, he made his way over to his brother. Flax was waiting for him as planned, but it seemed that they didn’t account for a sudden wave of hostile faunus heading to their location. He unsheathed his halberd and held onto it with a loose, yet firm, grip. Both brothers gave each other a look that said the same thing: that this fight was only going to have one victorious party. There was no way around it and only one way to get past it, which was to go through it. 

“You have a plan, right?” Ecru questioned.

“Of course I do, I pretty much have a plan for everything,” Flax replied. 

“Which is..?”

“It mostly involves not dying.”

“Well, it’s a start…”

As the two of them readied themselves for combat, the large White Fang group drew closer to them at a steady rate. 

It didn’t take much time for them to be seen. 

As waves upon waves bored upon the two, they began to take on waves of the faunus on their own. As Flax handled one group, Ecru would handle an entirely different one at the same time. 

And it seemed that things were getting a bit easier to manage as their enemies were slaughtered. 

Getting down to the last few in the group, Ecru’s energy and aura were quickly draining. Swinging his halberd around, he was able to injure quite a few Faunus, along with killing the one he was engaged with. Quickly turning, he slashed into the torso of one standing behind him, causing blood to splatter onto the floor. Blade then struck with blade as another had taken their place. Hooking the blade around his opponent’s, he pushed it towards the ground and then plunged the blade of the halberd into their chest. As he was quickly surrounded, the halberd converted into a musket, which was then fired. The recoil of the shot sent him backwards away from the group, and he quickly came to a stop. Crouching into a stable stance, he began to take on his opponents at range. 

Ecru was able to slay quite a few of them until the ones who survived reached him. Transforming the musket back into a halberd, he held the butt of it as he thrust forward into the stomach of the closest enemy. Drawing it out, he then swiftly swung it into the head of the next. Spinning it, he turned it back into it’s previous form and kneecapped the last Faunus. The White Fang grunt inched forward to his weapon, not being able to reach it before Ecru could plunge the blade into his neck. Taking a breath, he began to hurry over to Flax.

***

Flax was having a great time. Adrenaline was coursing through his veins as he killed one opponent after the next. The more that was slain, the more fun he was having. It was getting to the point where the White Fang grunts were more than terrified of him and were attacking to try and kill him to end it, but he didn’t care. He slashed his knife into the body of another victim as they fell to the ground. As another Faunus raced towards him with a machete, Flax used the serrated end of his weapon to catch the blade. He grabbed the weapon and slashed his foe’s throat with it, then stabbed him in the heart with it, getting it stuck in there. He let out devilish laughter as he charged forth, murdering the rest in cold blood. 

He didn’t care at this point.

He was having a great time today.

Using the serrated side of the weapon instead, he began to slash forth at the oncoming Faunus. The more he killed, the more vicious the attacks became. When it came to the last enemy, he stabbed their open palm and dragged the blade through their arm and into their upper body. The White Fang grunt began to scream in pain, having no way to fight back due to the fact that Flax had disarmed him rather quickly. It was less of a death and more of an execution of his opponent. 

As he yanked the blade from their mangled body, he drew in a couple deep breaths. The action was an exhilarating and exhausting experience, to say the least. Although, he was given very little time to relax as someone had grabbed his shoulder. Flax’s mind immediately went onto his twitch reactions instead of assessing the current situation. 

He whipped his body around in a blur of motion and lunged forward with his knife. Once it had broken skin and plunged deep within the other person’s body, he dragged it upward until it hit bone. 

Then he noticed something.

The person wasn’t a White Fang member at all. In fact, they were just wearing stuff that was along the lines of casual clothing. His eyes drifted up to the emblem sewn into the hoodie the person was wearing, and then to their cold, blue eyes. Flax’s thought immediately went from confusion to dread as his brain began to process what had just happened.

This wasn’t a White Fang member.

This wasn’t some sort of stranger.

It was Ecru.

***

That was unexpected. 

The twitch reactions that Flax relies on are very unpredictable, especially when the situation has some sort of heavy mood to it. A severe blunder on Ecru's part, to say the least.

Ecru coughed up blood as Flax’s expression turned into a shocked one. A pained expression overtook his own face as the crimson liquid began to run down his chin. Grabbing a hold of his brother’s arm (which was still holding onto the knife), he pushed it outward, taking the knife with it. Almost instantly, it clattered to the ground, as Flax seemed reluctant to hold onto it right now. For just a moment, the two of them just stood there looking at each other in the eye. Suddenly, Ecru fell backwards, hitting the ground with a dull thump. Flax managed to snap himself out of his shocked state and rushed to his brother’s side. 

“Ecru, I-,” he began to say.

“Go,” Ecru managed to say through his suddenly labored breathing. 

“But-”

“Just go! Leave…”

Shocked by the sudden outburst, Flax did as said and ran.

After his brother left, Ecru was alone.

Slowly reaching into his front pocket with his bloodied hand, he pulled out his Scroll. The display was slightly cracked, but that didn’t matter. Searching through his contact list, he selected a number and laid the device next to him. Clutching his bloodied chest, he turned on his side to face it. 

It kept on ringing for a bit of time until someone picked up. 

“Hello?” answered Yang. 

“Yang…” Ecru breathed out.

“Ecru, holy fuck! What happened?”

“There isn’t any more time to explain… Just listen.”

“What is it?”

“You’re not far behind them.”

“Not far behind who, exactly?”

“Davy and Ashen. They’ll be able to meet you at the docks at Anima. If you leave now, you can make it.” 

Ecru was just managing to speak through the coughing, due to the blood making it difficult to breathe. It was also at this moment when Flax was rushing back to his brother carrying the pack they had with him. He dropped off the bag close to him and knelt down to his brother. 

“Ecru, I got everything with me, so I may be able to find something that can help! Wait, what are you doing?” 

“Wait, who was that?” Yang questioned.

“That isn’t important. Just make it to Mistral,” Ecru replied, seemingly not noticing Flax.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to he-”

The call was ended as Ecru hit the “end call” button on his Scroll. Painfully, he turned onto his back to face Flax.

“I’m so, so sorry for this. I didn’t know what I was doing, I just…” Flax trailed off, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.

Ecru reached up with his other hand and attempted to remove his brother’s mask and failed, only succeeding in slathering his own blood over it. 

“Listen, Flax. There’s no need to apologize,” Ecru said, trying his best to comfort his brother. 

“No, it’s my fault. I’ll find a way to make sure you’re gonna be okay…” The tears that were building up were brimming at this point.

“I’ll be fine, so don’t worry about me. I still believe that it’ll be fine, and it will. Everything’s gonna turn out fine.”

Then something sparked within him that hasn’t happened in many years. He began to feel what he hadn’t in so long. He no longer felt empty as he had before. He finally, after so many years of his life, felt happy. Waves of emotions flooded onto him, and he began to recall his distant memories that he’d almost forgotten. Memories that he used to learn how to express feelings and such. 

Everything was going to be okay. 

“I really don’t want to do this, but…” Flax said, reaching for his knife. “But I can’t bear to see you like this any longer.”

He raised the knife above Ecru, and, with every ounce of regret flowing through his body, plunged the blade deep into his brother’s neck. There was a moment of shock and confusion at first for Ecru, but it quickly turned into hate and anger. He was there for a moment. He had want he wanted all this time, yet his own brother was taking that from him. He felt the despair, anger, hatred, and betrayal overcome him. He wanted to lash out, but he was too weak. He wanted to shout, but all he could do was gasp. Everything was fading so quickly from his mind. 

He felt anger.

He felt betrayal.

He felt everything wash away.

He felt only the pain.

And then he felt death. 

***

Flax felt tears stream down his face as he watched the life fade away from Ecru’s eyes. It was as it hundreds of weights had been dropped on him all at once. His throat burned, his chest felt heavy and his heart hurt. 

For a moment, he couldn’t move. 

Eventually, he gathered up the willpower to remove the blade from his brother’s neck. Sheathing it, he then began to gather anything he could and leave. He didn’t want to be here any longer than he had to. Taking off Ecru’s weapon holster, he slung it around his body, sheathing the halberd in it. He then took the mask, along with anything he had on him. For some reason, Flax took his Scroll, too. He didn’t know why, but it seemed like he should at least carry any bit of his brother with him. 

After he packed everything up, he left the area, leaving his brother behind for the last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arguably, this is my favorite (posted) chapter of the Carnivore AU to date.
> 
> I'm good at foreshadowing, I think. The title speaks for itself and I focused on Ecru's dying thoughts. Idk, I'm still a beginner at this.
> 
> Flax is also a dumbass and can't plan for shit lol


	7. Choices and Voices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang arrives at Mistral to meet up with the "others" and doesn't exactly get what she expects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original: https://biocrafthero.deviantart.com/art/Carnivore-AU-Choices-and-Voices-693035793

It’s been a couple weeks since Ecru had last contacted Yang, and each passing day only added to her concern. Anything could’ve happened to him during over those few weeks. 

The ship had just landed at the docks, and she had recalled that two people were supposed to meet her there. As she was boarding off, it seemed there were still many people who hadn’t made it back yet after the Fall of Beacon. As she weaved her way through the crowd, there was a nagging voice at the back of her mind. 

It spoke out doubts and spoke of deception. It would practically shout at her that this was a trick or it would have no positive outcome. The voice seemingly came from nowhere and everywhere at once, much like Ecru’s telepathy. This time it all felt like an internal force more than an external force; the voice echoing in such a way that it turned one into a thousand. It took as much willpower she had left to persist through it all.

After she was able to work her way through the larger part of the many crowds, she happened to run into somebody. This would be a very common occurrence here, but it was the appearance of the person that was more surprising. 

He was a wolf faunus, but half of his left ear was missing and seemed as if it was violently torn off. His eyes were nearly a neon green, but the right eye was almost completely white. Astonishingly, it still retained the slightest bit of color in it. A mask restricted any view of his face, which was very reminiscent of Ecru.

Almost immediately after processing what had happened, he hastily and somewhat awkwardly began to apologize. Oddly enough, the ominous voice seemingly stopped, as if it was intent on listening to this person. 

The faunus teen had mentioned that he was distracted because he was looking for someone that was here at the docks. It was only a moment after that he had stopped and observed who he was talking to. He quickly realized that he was talking to the same person he had said that he was searching for; oh the irony.

“Oh, Yang! I didn’t expect to find you this quickly,” he said. The way he had said it sounded somewhat forced on it’s own, as well. “Anyways, I am Davy Tunstall. It is very nice to meet you.”

Yang shook his hand silently, but her mind was flooded with thoughts. 

She recognized his name because Ecru had mentioned him last time they spoke to each other on the phone call. She was scared of giving him her full trust, but he was the only lead she had on her current predicament. The voices of her thoughts wouldn’t go away, but the same haunting voice stayed prominent. 

Focusing as well as she could manage on the current situation was key right about now.

“I do recommend that we leave here as soon as possible,” Davy stated, beginning to motion for Yang to follow him. 

She began to trail behind him as they made their way out of the docks, with him seeming to be a little fast paced with almost everything. Yet, an air of silence hung between the two as they walked. That’s when Yang had remembered that Ecru had mentioned a second person on the phone call, yet she had only met one. 

Just as she was going to ask about this, Davy took a sudden turn. She followed him, still intent on asking him the question about the second person. 

Her thought was suddenly interrupted when the pair stood before someone who look as if they were a monster.

Much like Davy and Ecru, they were also wearing a mask. They were wearing a black robe of sorts, as well, hiding most of their body. On their forearms they wore gauntlet-like plates, the right one having some sort of bladed weapon on it. The hand on that arm was less of a hand and more of a claw, actually. Two horns protruded from his forehead, making his overall figure look almost demonic. Blood red eyes bore into her own, almost causing her to quake in fear. Surprisingly, Davy was completely calm during the whole situation. 

“Yang, I’d like you to meet Ashen King,” he said as a way to introduce them. 

She did a slight waving motion, hesitant of Ashen. He did a slight bow of his head in response to her gesture. 

Davy, who had picked up on how tense she was, decided to try his best and reassure her that Ashen had no ill intentions.

“Don’t worry, Yang! He may not say much and can be quite threatening, but he’s a very kind person. And, honestly, I think you’ll get along with him well.”

An optimistic faunus and a demonic-like person. They may sound weird, but they were interesting, to say the least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't like this one, but I needed it for transitional purposes.


End file.
